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Xochimilco
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Xochimilco: floating gardens Map of Mexico highlighting the location of Xochimilco, marked with a red star near Mexico City in central Mexico, indicating its status as a World Heritage Site. Neighboring countries and major bodies of water such as the Gulf of Mexico and Pacific Ocean are also shown for geographic context. Colorful flat-bottomed boats with decorative arches carry people along a canal bordered by trees in Xochimilco, Mexico City.
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Xochimilco: floating gardens
Xochimilco: floating gardens The floating gardens (chinampas) of Xochimilco, near Mexico City, formerly supplied crops to the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán and are still utilized for the cultivation of flowers and vegetables.

Xochimilco

district, Mexico City, Mexico
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Map of Mexico highlighting the location of Xochimilco, marked with a red star near Mexico City in central Mexico, indicating its status as a World Heritage Site. Neighboring countries and major bodies of water such as the Gulf of Mexico and Pacific Ocean are also shown for geographic context.
Xochimilco

Xochimilco, district of Mexico City and delegación (legation), central Distrito Federal (Federal District), central Mexico. It lies at 7,461 feet (2,274 metres) above sea level in the Valley of Mexico, on Lake Xochimilco. The name Xochimilco is a combination of the Nahuatl words xochitl and milli and means “where the flowers grow.” Built on the site of a pre-Columbian town, Xochimilco is famous for its chinampas (floating gardens). The local agriculturalists constructed branch and reed rafts on the lake, covered them with mud from the bottom of the lake, and cultivated fruits, vegetables, and flowers, which they shipped to Tenochtitlan (now Mexico City) via canal. In time the rafts took root and became islands.

Colorful flat-bottomed boats with decorative arches carry people along a canal bordered by trees in Xochimilco, Mexico City.
Mexico City: trajineras (flat-bottomed boats) in XochimilcoTrajineras (flat-bottomed boats) in Xochimilco, Mexico City.

Xochimilco is a popular weekend outing for thousands of Mexicans and tourists, who visit the area in colourful trajineras (flat-bottomed boats). It is still an important market-gardening and flower-producing centre for the city, despite its being surrounded by urban sprawl in the latter part of the 20th century. Downtown Mexico City, 14 miles (23 km) to the north-northwest, can be reached via an expressway link or by several major avenues. A campus of the Autonomous Metropolitan University is located in Xochimilco. In 1987 Xochimilco was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Britannica editor John Rafferty holds a microphone in front of an illustrated background showing two axolotls and the headline Ask an Editor: Are axolotls real?
The Tiny Habitat of the Endangered AxolotlAll wild axolotls live in the same small lake, and some of the qualities of this unique ecological context have allowed them to remain in their juvenile stage throughout their lives.
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The growth of Mexico City has had serious detrimental effects on the canals and floating gardens. In 1993 Mexico City initiated a program that improved treatment of municipal sewage in order to reverse the deterioration of the site.

Tower Bridge over the Thames River in London, England. Opened in 1894. Remains an Important Traffic Route with 40,000 Crossings Every Day.
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Guess the City by Its River Quiz
The Editors of Encyclopaedia BritannicaThis article was most recently revised and updated by Meg Matthias.
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